Saturday, December 1, 2007

Invest in Carmen and get incentives

OFFICIALS of Carmen in northern Cebu agreed to grant tax incentives to companies so they can attract investors to their town.They also reclassified some lands from agricultural to industrial, and some areas as economic zone as part of their efforts.The Carmen Municipal Council approved an ordinance providing local tax incentives to businesses engaged in manufacturing whose annual gross receipts is at least P20 million.The ordinance, proposed by Councilor Gerard Villamor, was approved last Aug. 10 and certified urgent by the councilor’s father, Mayor Virginio Villamor.

A copy of the legislation was received by the Provincial Board and referred to commit tees for review in yesterday’s regular session.In the resolution, the councilors agreed that they need to attract investors, so they must give tax incentives for the municipality to have a “business-conducive environment.”Tax holidays on business permit fees, annual business axes and real property taxes will be given for a period of 10 years for qualified companies who will invest in the town.Covered in the tax holidays are export companies sending 70 percent of their products abroad, and “indirect” export companies supplying services or products to export companies.Earlier, all congressmen in Cebu also filed a bill in the House of Representatives to declare the entire Cebu Province, including Bantayan and Camotes islands as economic zone.The declaration, if approved into law, will give tax incentives to investors.The bill, however, has yet to go through the usual process of law making in the House and the Senate.